Athletics

ATHLETICS and HAIR TISSUE MINERAL ANALYSIS

Hair analysis and nutritional balancing science can benefit amateur and professional athletes in many important ways.This can mean the difference between a mediocre season and a winning one.
Benefits include enhanced strength and stamina, better mental clarity,awareness and focus, prevention of injuries and burnout, rapid and more complete recovery from injuries, better weight control, and improved general health.Nutritional balancing is also an excellent way to guide diet and supplement recommendations for athletes.
Dr. Paul Eck worked with athletes in peak condition to develop the normal values used in hair analysis.He also found the hair must not be washed at the laboratory, and the principles of nutritional balancing science must be applied to interpret the test.

STRENGTH AND STAMINA

Balancing the oxidation rate enhances the efficiency of energy production in the body cells.A very slow or very fast oxidation rate is similar to running a car or bicycle in the wrong gear, producing poor energy efficiency.Different sports require different metabolic attributes.For example, a fast oxidizer may do well as a sprinter.However, a slow oxidizer will often succeed better as a long distance runner.
Iron, copper, manganese, magnesium, chromium, zinc and other minerals are intimately involved in cellular energy production.The proper combination is the key.Identifying and eliminating excess toxic metals is also most helpful for energy, flexibility and stamina.
Stabilizing carbohydrate tolerance also contributes to stamina.A balance of many nutrients including calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc and chromium are required for the proper metabolism of glucose to generate sustained energy.

MENTAL CLARITY AND FOCUS

Coordination, clarity, awareness, judgment and a quick response time are a major part of all athletic performance.The brain is a chemical organ, and requires a vast array of nutrients forproper functioning.All toxic metals interfere with the central nervous system, leading to impaired mental functioning.Correcting biochemical imbalances invariablyleads to improved mental focus and functioning for athletes.
An important problem in athletics today is the behavior of team members, on-field and off.Nutritional balancing helps enhance emotional clarity and stability, leading to better attitudes and behavior.

IMPROVED HEALTH AND AVOIDING BURNOUT

Especially later in the season, many athletes go into burnout.Chronic fatigue and related problems are common among athletes.Nutritional balancing programs are excellent to help prevent and correct chronic fatigue and burnout among athletes.
Colds, flu, pneumonia and other illnesses often plague athletes, especially those who travel and train hard.The immune system and resistance to infection depends on a balanced chemistry and the availability of a variety of vital nutrients.Nutritional balancing permits monitoring and correction of imbalances before one gets sick to help maintain excellent health during the rigors of training, as well as during while traveling.

INJURY PREVENTION

Nutritional imbalances cause weak joints, tendons and ligaments, excessive inflammation and muscle tears.Balancing body chemistry can help avoid injuries by maintaining stronger ligaments.It can also help reduce the need for antibiotics and other drugs by improving the immune system and general health.
Each year a number of supposedly healthy high school and professional athletes die from sudden heart attacks and even strokes.These tragic deaths can usually be predicted by stress indicators from a properly performed and interpreted hair analysis.They could be prevented through dietary changes and proper supplementation.
Without mineral testing and nutritional balancing, athletes often take needless risks - and suffer the consequences.Standard blood tests do not reveal this information.

ENHANCED RECOVERY

One of the most impressive uses of nutritional balancing is to speed up recovery from fractures, sprains and other injuries.Many nutrients including zinc, manganese, copper, calcium, magnesium and a variety of vitamins are required for healing of injuries.When these are provided in the correct amounts and combinations, the results are most impressive.
A low sodium/potassium ratio or an abnormal phosphorus level in an unwashed hair sample are associated with excessive protein breakdown or catabolism.A chronic catabolic statecan impair or even prevent the normal healing of sports injuries.

WEIGHT CONTROL

Stubborn problems with food cravings and weight control plague some athletes.Nutritional balancing offers a scientific and individualized method of approaching this issue in a safe and effective manner.Nutrition programs can assist with both weight gain and weight loss.

PROPER SUPPLEMENTATION

Most athletes take a variety of supplements, some of which are incorrect and perhaps even dangerous.Nutritional balancing is very helpful to assess the adequacy of the diet, and to guide the use ofsupplements to balance and enhance body chemistry.Once again, nutritional balancing requires that the mineral testing laboratory does not wash the hair, and that the test is interpreted in terms of the oxidation types.

MYTHS ABOUT EXERCISE

Myth #1.Strong muscles and a beautiful body indicate you are in good health.

These may make you feel like you have health, and everyone may tell you how wonderful you look.However, I work with people who look great, but have cancer or some other disease.It is certainly wise to care for your body, but health goes far beyond muscles and fat content.Don't judge yourself and others only in terms of how much exercise you can do.Physical strength is only one parameter of health.

Myth #2.A healthy heart and healthy arteries indicate you are healthy.

This is a recent fetish.Experience with many people shows that if your body chemistry is truly in balance, your arteries and heart will be fine.Gentle exercise is beneficial for everyone, but a narrow-minded focus on cardiovascular fitness is insane.
Recently a 25-year old woman consulted me complaining of fatigue and depression.She was doing aerobic exercise 3-5 evenings a week.Her heart and arteries were probably fine, but her glandular system was so exhausted she could hardly get out of bed in the morning.Her hair analysis indicated a depleted, exhausted body.Exercise was just aggravating the problem.This case is typical of the 'exhausted exerciser'.

Myth #3.Exercise rebuilds your body.

Exercise assists circulation of the blood and oxygenation of tissues, and can help rebuilding in this sense.Mild to moderate exercise is excellent for these purposes.Excessive exercise, however, can stress the heart, arteries, and glands.They are forced them to respond to stress, and to use up energy in that response.Muscles enlarge as a response or accommodation to stress.Healing and rebuilding is largely a biochemical phenomenon, requiring proper nutrients, and often requiring rest so that energy can be directed to the area in need of healing.Research supports the idea that moderate exercise can provide the same benefits as vigorous exercise.The point is, don't overdo exercise any more than you would overdo any other activity.
To exercise when you feel well is great.To exercise "in order to feel well" is skating on thin ice.Today, most people are subtly malnourished due to consumption of food that is low in trace elements and other nutrients.No amount of exercise will make up for these deficiencies.It is a mistake to think you can compensate for a biochemical problem by exercising.The result will be that you will feel well for a while.Later, you will find yourself addicted to exercise.If you skip it for two days, you will feel depressed, irritable or exhausted.This occurs because exercise stimulates the adrenal glands and can keep exhausted glands functioning - like whipping a tired horse.If you stop whipping, naturally the horse will not feel like getting up.

Myth #4.Exercise cannot be harmful.

Most marathon runners are good for several years.Then they must retire because they are 'burned out'.Many professional athletes die young.Indeed, they have one of the shortest life spans of any group of adults.The slow heartbeat of professional runners is due in part to their healthy heart, but also due to a mechanism to slow their metabolism, because they put such strain on their heart.Cysteine is released from muscle tissue and slows the thyroid.The idea that since a little is good, more must be better, can be lethal when applied to exercise.

GUIDELINES FOR EXERCISE

1. Don't use your pulse as your only guide.Many people are not that healthy, in spite of a normal pulse rate.

2. Follow common sense and stay in touch with the body.Don't push past exhaustion.Listen to yourself before you listen to any coaches, experts or friends.Go at your own pace.Do as much exercise as you need to keep yourself fit for your lifestyle.  That is enough.

3. Don't use exercise as a crutch or drug.If you are running to get away from your problems, you are misusing exercise.If you are addicted to exercise, work toward getting unhooked, as you would with any other addiction.Addiction is not health.

4. If you skip exercise for a few days, you should still feel fairly well.If you are depressed, exhausted, constipated or irritable you are probably using exercise as a whip.Cut down slowly and look into other reasons why you are feeling this way.

5. A tissue mineral analysis performed by a lab that does not wash the hair, and interpreted by someone who understands it well, can tell you if you are overdoing exercise.Often, the sodium and potassium levels will be low, or the sodium/potassium ratio will be low.

These indicate adrenal exhaustion and a need to moderate and rebuild.Gentle exercise is acceptable, but vigorous exercise in this condition only slows regeneration.

6. Studies show that gentle to moderate exercise regimens provide as much benefit as vigorous exercise.Involve your whole body.Exercise outside in the fresh air whenever possible.Flexibility is as important as strength and endurance.Stretching and deep breathing are vital for health.

Walking, swimming, bicycling and gardening are excellent.Long-lived people of the world often work hard and long, but not necessarily strenuously.Meditative exercises such as yoga or tai chi are also excellent.These involve stretching, deep breathing and a moving meditation as well as developing strength and endurance.

         The great exercise guru, Dr. Kenneth Cooper, author of Aerobics, recently changed his mind about heavy exercise.  According to his press release, he became disturbed by repeated stories of young people, supposedly in the best of shape, who developed cancer or had heart attacks at a young age.  He has realized that gentle moderate exercise is plenty and no longerrecommends the same level of vigorous exercise he once advocated.

Adapted from the Edk Institute Bulletin
Vol. 18January 2002Number 1